V1.4

Release NotesContents::
Target audience: Mifos specialists.

These release notes contain important information about Mifos version 1.4 (code name: Gazelle B) and higher. Mifos version 1.4 is a release with improvements to configuration and architecture, testing framework, and developer environment, that builds on version 1.3. In addition to an overview of the major changes since the previous major release known issues and other information are addressed here. Please read this document before you begin using Mifos.

Requirements

Hardware

See MifosSystemRecommendations for hardware requirements.

Software

Software requirements are described in the INSTALL file that downloads with the Mifos version 1.4.x release package.

Configuration

See Configuring Mifos for details on how to set up Mifos

Browser

Mifos recommends using Firefox with this release. Mifos 1.4 supports the following browsers

Firefox

  • Firefox 3.0 and above.

Internet Explorer

  • IE 6.0 SP1
  • IE 7.0

New Features and Enhancements

  • Collection Sheet Entry Improvements
    • Atomic Submission of collection sheet entry
  • Performance Improvements
    • Addition of indexes in several areas
  • Ability to bulk import loan payments using format-specific plugins
  • Hungarian and Spanish translations
  • Upgraded BIRT 2.5.1 in Reporting
  • Support for Firefox 3.0+

Known Issues

Deployment Isolation

There have been unconfirmed reports that deploying multiple instances of Mifos inside the same Tomcat installation may cause problems. We advise isolating deployments by only deploying a single instance of Mifos inside a single installation of Tomcat until further notice.

Configuration Settings

  • Configuration of Process flow properties: Mifos doesn't start when a process flow property (such as ClientPendingApprovalStateEnabled) has been set to a non-default value. The workaround is to manually update these settings in the database. See the `Process section in Configuring Mifos Mifos <http://mifos.org/developers/wiki/Configuring Mifos#process>`_ for how to work around this problem. Issue 2252.
  • Loan repayment causes null pointer exception if currency is non-standard: If the value for AccountingRules.CurrencyCode is set to something other than the euro (EUR), pound (GBP), rupee (INR), or dollar (USD) in the applicationConfiguration.custom.properties file, repaying a loan may result in a null pointer exception. This is because rounding values for that currency are missing from the Mifos database. The workaround is to enter values for ROUNDING_MODE and ROUNDING_AMOUNT in the currency table in the Mifos database. Issue 2168.

Loans

  • Loan Product Definition ranges are not enforced when a loan account is created:
    • You can still create a loan account with a grace period even if "Grace type" is specified as "None" in the Loan Product Definition. Issue 1662.
    • The number of installments for grace period on loan accounts can be greater than what's defined in the Loan Product Definition for number of grace periods. Issue 1663.
    • When you edit a loan account, the interest rate is not validated against the allowable range, as defined in the Loan Product Definition. Issue 1882.
  • Loan disbursal: You cannot disburse two loans for the same loan product to the same client or group. To work around this problem, create multiple products with the same product settings. Issue 2006.
  • Rounding issues when fees are removed from active loans: You may experience problems related to rounding when you remove fees from active loans. Issue 1934.

Loan Schedule Independent of Meeting Schedule (LSIM)

  • Grace period and LSIM: "Grace on all repayments" doesn't work when LSIM is enabled. Issue 1994.
  • Minimum/Maximum days between disbursal and first repayment: These settings are not optional. Use the default values (1 for Minimum and 365 for Maximum) as a workaround. Issue 2005.
  • Repayment schedule not updating correctly when disbursal date changed: Mifos does not update the repayment schedule correctly when LSIM is enabled and a loan disbursal date is modified (for example, moved one day forward). The workaround is to close the existing loan account and open a new account that has the desired disbursal date. Issue 2154.
  • Loans created with LSIM on cannot be edited after user logs out of Mifos. Issue 2353. Fixed in 1.4.2.

Memory and Performance

  • Additional permanent generation space may be needed: The Mifos web application may require more permanent generation space than the default. See PermGenOutOfMemory for details.
  • Memory leak: There is a slow memory leak in Mifos that may, under very heavy loads, require restarting the application every two days. Issue 2092.

Other

  • Savings Product Definition: "Minimum balance required for interest" is not working. Issue 1542.
  • Holidays are not changeable: Once you add a new holiday to Mifos, it cannot be edited or deleted. Use caution with this feature. Issue 1398.
  • Issues with adding an unapproved client to an unapproved group: Group must be approved first before an unapproved client can be added to the group. Issue 2210.

`Current list of known bugs. <http://mifosforge.jira.com/secure/IssueNavigator.jspa?mode=hide&requestId=10044>`_

Additional Known Issues in 1.4.2

This will be fixed in the next hotfix.

  • DigitsafterDecimal set to 0 causes problems in user input. Issue 2685
  • Create loan does not default repayment day to center meeting date with LSIM on. Issue 2686

Fixed Issues

Use the following links to see which issues were fixed in Mifos version 1.4.0 and above:

Acknowledgements

The project owners would like to thank those who have been actively involved in the Mifos community. Your code contributions, ideas, documentation assistance and testing have been extremely helpful in moving the project forward.

A big thanks to the entire Mifos community!